Gabions are used in many situations including the stabilization of earth movement and erosion,
river control, reservoirs, canal refurbishment, landscaping and retaining walls. They can be manufactured in welded mesh or woven wire. Welded mesh gabions are faster to erect and do not need tensioning. This allows them to keep their shape, to be free from bulges and depressions and fit easily against the wall. It is possible to cut holes in them if needed to pass pipes etc through and they can be machine filled.
Gabions are customisable and we can fabricate curves for home garden use.If used for a seating areas slabs can be cut and placed on top of the wall to make a striking feature. When used for a landscaping purpose their versatility is limited only by imagination. For example wine bottles have been used as an infill, or a recent trend is to half fill with stones and half fill with timber logs (please note this kind of fill is only suitable for decorative and not structural purposes). FMM can insert a partition at the front of the gabions in order that expensive stone can be used at the front whilst the rest of the gabion can be filled with lower quality aggregate. We also can offer bespoke gabions for specific designs from curves to steps.
Welded Mesh Gabions are manufactured from Galfan Wire or triple life coated.We also supply gabion baskets in the same specification as the above but in Green Nature coated. Full specification 3” x 3” (76.2mm x 76.2mm) x 2.77/3.22mm 4life “4 times the life of a galvanized finish”, then Nature coated welded mesh. Nature coated to an overall diameter or 3.22mm, average coating thickness is no less than 0.25mm,Nature” coating is based on PE and is superior to PVC in UV resistance or behaviour in cold temperatures. Main advantage is the environmental aspects including storage, use and recycling.
Gabion boxes and Mattresses are made from 76.2mm x 76.2mm nominal (3″ x 3″) Welded Mesh, divided by diaphragms at 1 metre centres where necessary with wire diameters 3mm, 4mm or 5mm.
3mm diameter wire is used on lower retaining walls, 4mm diameter wire on medium to high retaining walls and the heaviest 5mm wire for the highest structures. FMM also fabricate our baskets in mixed diameter wire panels for clients where cost saving is important.
GABION CLADDING
Gabions used as cladding can provide an attractive finish to buildings, walls and many other situations. Gabions of 0.3m to 0.5m are generally used and need to be attached to the existing building using clamp bars. At heights of 4 to 5m 4mm dia wire baskets should be used and above this height 5mm dia wire. The baskets are supplied with internal diaphragms dividing the basket into partitions of not more than 700mm square
GABION FENCING
gabions used for fencing imageGabions have now become an important feature in many situations and the construction of thin walls made from narrow depth gabions have become very popular. As they require vertical faces and are narrow depth, extra support to provide stability is necessary. This can be provided by using metal or concrete posts at regular intervals inside the gabion basket.
Fine Mesh Metals supply a range of baskets specifically for this purpose made from 4mm dia wire to provide the added strength required to prevent deforming of the face, with minimum basket depth of 0.3m preferably 0.5m. The baskets are supplied with internal diaphragms dividing the basket into partitions of not more than 700mm square.